


A Christmas of Firsts

by WinterAndLittleBrunettes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, a mistletoe kiss, and make gingerbread men, and their gifts for each other are also super thought out and pure, because who am i, but theyre so pure, klance first christmas, santa's favouorite ho has to be the best one tho, so cute, they also make cinnamon buns, they bake in the kitchen without hunk's supervision, they have a flour fight, they open super heartfelt filled stockings, theyve only been dating for about a month, ugly christmas sweaters?, uh fuck yeah who do you guys take me for, which is honestly dangerous but they make out alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 04:30:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16779607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterAndLittleBrunettes/pseuds/WinterAndLittleBrunettes
Summary: When Lance can't make it home for the holidays, he asks his new boyfriend Keith if he wants to spend Christmas with him.Full of flour, wrapping paper, and ugly Christmas sweaters, their first Christmas together isn't one they will ever forget.





	A Christmas of Firsts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ForsakenAngel88](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForsakenAngel88/gifts).



> For this holiday season, Susan and I ran a Secret Santa on our Klance Discord channel, but since she and I were running the event and still wanted to participate, we decided to do gifts for each other!
> 
> Her idea was a little vague, other than that she wanted Keith and Lance to spend their first Christmas together. So, I threw in almost every single one of my own family's traditions all in one cute fic that I wrote up in a very short amount of time! We actually ended up exchanging our gifts in October, because we were both so excited about our ideas and finished them so quickly!
> 
> Another thing that was super weird, is that so many aspects of our fics for each other were super similar o.o Like, we both wrote about gingerbread, photographer Lance, flour fights, and cute kisses. Like??? If that doesn't say we're soulmates, when we had no idea what the other person was writing, I don't know _what_ will.
> 
> Susan, darling, I hope you know I love you <3 Thanks for being one of my dearest friends, and the first person I think of. This is for you <3

# A Christmas of Firsts

Spending Christmas alone this year wasn’t _exactly_ what Lance had expected to do… But when he was only able to get time off work at the very last minute, _after_ his parents had bought tickets to go back to Cuba, Lance was alone in his small two bedroom apartment for Christmas.

His roommate, Hunk, had left for his parents’ house the day before, which meant Lance had to fend for himself, food wise, which was… Interesting, to say the least. After living with the world-unknown culinary genius for nearly two years, his ability to make his own meals had plateaued off into almost zero cooking experience.

He could make a mean grilled cheese sandwich, because that was the only thing Hunk trusted him to make, but he could only live off of those for so long. He was thinking of trying his family gingerbread recipe Christmas Eve, to hold up the tradition even if he wasn’t home, but he wasn’t sure how well those would turn out.

He knew about almost everyone else’s plans for the holidays. Pidge and Matt were going with their folks to Egypt for a family vacation. Hunk was having a simple Christmas with his entire family, and he knew Allura and Coran were doing something fun together… But the only ones who he was skeptical about was Shiro, and his own boyfriend Keith.

Lance still smiled giddily whenever he thought of Keith as his boyfriend. They've only been dating for about a month, but they've known each other for much longer than that.

As soon as he met Keith, he was immediately captivated by him, even if he wasn't sure what to label his feelings as at first. But after a while, it became clear to Lance what his feelings were towards Keith, and, _somehow_ , they were reciprocated. And one day, about a month ago, when they met up for a cup of coffee, Keith suddenly blurted out the idea of them going out on an official date and becoming boyfriends. Lance had been surprised, and pouty that Keith had asked him first, so rather than answering, he reiterated Keith’s exact words back to him. Somehow, for some reason, Keith agreed to be Lance’s boyfriend even after the shenanigans he put him through.

But now, he had no idea what Keith was doing for Christmas. With that thought in mind, he pulled up Keith’s contact and called him.

It only took about four rings for him to answer. “Hey,” Keith replied with a smile. Lance could always tell when he was smiling, even over the phone. His voice just sounded _happier_.

“I was thinking,” Lance began, and ignored the soft groan Keith gave at hearing those words, “that I don't know what your plans for Christmas are! Like, should we exchange gifts _now,_ or later? When will you be--”

“I'm not doing anything over Christmas.” Keith interjected. “Shiro’s going back to Adam’s parents’ place for the holidays, and I didn't want to intrude, since, they’re really just getting to know Shiro. They don't need their son’s boyfriend’s brother hanging out with them for Christmas, too.”

“Oh.” Lance said dumbly. “Wait, so you have _no_ plans? Nothing at all?”

“Nope,” Keith popped the ‘p’. Lance could hear some rustling on Keith’s end in the background, but he figured that he was just going home from work. “Why?”

Lance pursed his lips, considering his options. Keith might think that his idea was crazy, but… “Do you want to spend Christmas together?”

Keith was quiet on the other end of the line for a few long seconds, giving Lance the time to properly panic and reconsider his life choices, before Keith said an honest “I’d love to”.

“I mean, don't feel pressured or anything,” Lance backtracked. “I just figured if we were both alone on Christmas--”

“Lance.”

“--that we may as well be alone _together,_ or well, not alone? You know--”

“ _Lance._ ”

“--not that we have to make anything big of it, like our first Christmas together or anything, we can just hang for all I care--”

“ ** _Lance!_** ” Keith exclaimed.

Lance finally hushed, stilling at Keith’s outburst. He didn't sound mad, more like, fondly exasperated? If that was even possible?

“I already said I'd love to spend Christmas with you.” Keith said softly. Lance could practically see the soft smile Keith was probably giving him. “With all the strings we want to tie to it, I'm down for whatever you want. As long as we spend it together, I'm okay.”

“Oh.” Lance whispered. “Okay.”

“Okay.” Keith breathed out with a chuckle. “So… I'll see you tomorrow? Your place?”

“Yeah, tomorrow!”

“Alright… Have a good night.” Keith said quietly, before hanging up the phone.

As soon as the line died, Lance sort of stood there in his kitchen in a daze.

Keith, his _boyfriend_ Keith, was coming over for Christmas. They were going to spend their first Christmas together after a month of dating. And he couldn't be happier.

He squealed, and spun out dramatically in the kitchen, letting the euphoric feeling take over his entire being. He couldn’t believe this was happening! But, when he finally took in his surroundings, a horrible feeling squashed the euphoria he had moments ago.

_Keith was coming_ **_here_ ** _to celebrate their first Christmas together_.

Holy shit, he had to clean! And buy food!

Lance made a beeline for the front door, somehow throwing on his coat, grabbing his keys and putting on shoes in the same motion. He had to go out to the store before it closed for the night.

Everything had to be _perfect._

* * *

Christmas Eve was upon Lance so much faster than he thought it’d be. But, he managed to get his entire apartment clean (even Hunk’s already fairly tidy room), and stock up the fridge with supplies for homemade gingerbread and hot chocolate, along with some cinnamon buns for himself Christmas Day.

Keith never exactly said what time he’d be around, but Lance made sure to get up bright and early to make sure everything was ready. He even had time to make the gingerbread dough and let it chill in the fridge for its required four hours already.

Hunk had decorated the tree for their apartment before he left, so all Lance had to do was put his presents under the tree. He and Keith had decided to not go extravagant for gifts this year, since it was their first time exchanging gifts, but he still had a few things for his boyfriend. Most of them were small, but the package he had for him under the tree required more time and effort…

Lance took one final look around the apartment. Everything was in tip-top shape. The entire kitchen was clean (he even did a thorough counter clean, making sure he could roll out the gingerbread on it), and the living room was spotless, minus the spot he now occupied on the couch. He even made sure to shower and put on his favourite cologne, so he’d smell his best for his boyfriend.

Who knows, maybe tonight will be the night they share their first kiss?

Suddenly, a knock sounded off on his door. Lance jerked upright, and sprinted to the door. He took a moment to peer through the peephole, giving himself a breather. He didn't want Keith to think he was over eager to see him, even though he _totally_ was.

He breathed in a deep breath, before opening the door.

Keith stood on the other side, wrapped up tight in a red winter coat, with a black beanie and arms full with a blue-wrapped present and a stocking full of smaller gifts. He smiled as soon as he saw Lance, and it stole the breath right out of Lance’s poor lungs.

But Lance couldn't even be mad. The snow stuck in the ends of Keith’s long black hair made him sparkle as they melted in the warmth of the building, and his nose was red from the cold, practically aching to be smooched. But he looked absolutely perfect.

“Hey.” Lance said with a smile.

“Hey yourself.”

After a moment of simply staring at his boyfriend, he jumped into action, taking the gifts from his arms and ushering him in. He left Keith in the entryway to remove his boots, coat and hat and took the gifts into the living room. The gift box, after giving it a light half hearted shake, he put beside the gift he got for Keith, and the stocking he laid on the ground beside the other one.

Just as he stood up to admire his handy work, solid arms wrapped around his waist, immediately seeking out the warmth hidden beneath his shirt. When Keith's ice cold fingertips brushed his stomach, Lance squeaked and jerked backwards, almost elbowing the man behind him in some uncomfortable spot. “Keith!” He shrieked, and tried to tear his hands out from under his shirt. “You're fucking _freezing_!”

“I know,” Keith said smugly beside his ear, holding fast despite a wiggling Lance. “That's why I'm doing this. You're warm.”

“Warm up some other way!”

“Where’s the fun in that?” Keith’s fingers wormed their way up to Lance’s chest, practically trailing ice on their path up.

With a sigh, Lance gave in and leaned back against Keith’s chest. “You suck.” He grumped.

“I know.”

They lingered like that for a few minutes, staring at the twinkling Christmas tree in front of them as Keith’s fingers warmed up against Lance’s skin. His fingertips danced distractedly over Lance’s skin, moving in their own patterns almost of their own will. Lance was nearly positive that Keith wasn't aware of himself doing it. But it was extremely endearing.

“So, what's the plan?” Keith asked a few minutes later, his hands trailing down from Lance’s chest to rest comfortably on his hips.

Lance looked over his shoulder back at Keith with a smirk. “Ever made gingerbread before?”

“Like… from _scratch?_ ”

“Well, I mean, I made the dough this morning… So we just have to roll it out and cut it into shapes.”

“Still… you made it from scratch?” Keith sounded oddly impressed.

Lance spun around, slowly enough that Keith could still keep his hands on him, but now they were facing each other. “Well, yeah? That's how my family's always done it.”

“I had no idea you could bake without Hunk in this apartment.” Keith said dryly.

Lance huffed, and crossed his arms over his chest. “I resent that, I am fully capable of doing things in the kitchen, on my own, without Hunk’s supervision.”

Keith levelled him with a doubting look.

“Okay, Hunk has no idea we’re gonna bake. But!” Lance grabbed one of Keith’s hands from his waist and used it to tug him into the kitchen with him, “he loves you, so if we do it _together_ , he won't get too mad at me.”

“Wow, I see how it is.” Keith said with a fake pout, “if we burn down the kitchen, you can use me as the distraction while you run away.”

Lance scoffed, “Hey, even you said ‘if’. So it's totally not gonna happen!” With that, he let go of Keith’s wrist to step over to the fridge, pulling out the big mixing bowl filled with rich brown gingerbread dough ready to be rolled out.

He put it out on the counter beside the big container of flour, and spun around to go to the sink to wash his hands.

“So, what do you need me to do?” Keith asked, rolling up his shirt sleeves.

He dried his hands off with the towel next to the sink and spun back to face Keith. “Wash up, and then we can roll out the dough.”

While Keith washed up behind him, Lance sprinkled a solid layer of flour against the counter, then dumped the large mass of dough directly onto it. As he started to gather it up into his hands and roll it in the flour to make it a little less sticky, he felt Keith press himself against his back and hook his chin over Lance’s shoulder to watch as he worked. But since his hands were clean, he kept them off of Lance.

Lance grabbed out his favourite of Hunk’s collection of rolling pins, a simple wooden one that was one single solid piece, but still light enough that he could throw it around if need be. He quickly coated it with a dusting of flour, and when it was sufficiently covered, he offered it back to Keith.

Keith eyed the offending object for a moment, before taking it carefully between his hands. Once it was fully in his grasp, his eyes widened. “It's light.”

“Of course it is.”

“But its a rolling pin. Aren't they meant to be…” he shrugged, and passed the pin back and forth between his hands, “weighty?”

“Some. Hunk has a big marble one somewhere here. But not all rolling pins need to be heavy.”

“Ah.” Keith stepped up to the counter and pressed the pin against the dough, and started to roll it out.

While he did that, Lance went to the other side of the kitchen to grab the parchment paper and a few cookie sheets. He lined each of the trays carefully with parchment paper so they wouldn't have to do more than give the sheets a quick wipe when they were done.

Once he finished, he stagger stacked the trays in a small tower so they’d be easy to grab quickly as they needed them. He made his way back over to Keith’s side, and couldn’t help chuckling at the uneven rolling job he was doing.

“What?” Keith snapped without any real heat. “I've never done this before, okay?”

“Why didn't you say so?” Lance asked, and stepped behind Keith to loop his arms beneath his to guide the rolling pin for him.

“Well, you looked so excited about making it,” Keith let himself be guided without complaint, “and I wanted to help you and be a part of it.”

Lance let his head fall forwards against Keith’s shoulder, trying to conceal a smile. “Oh my god, you're precious.” He whispered, and lifted his head up again to focus on the task. “Okay, it's a push and pull, you need to push and pull the dough evenly in all directions.” He explained, and helped guide the rolling pin in the way he meant.

Keith was hesitant and unsure following Lance’s instruction, but once the dough started to look flatter and more circular than it did before, his confidence built up. “How flat do we want this to be?”

“I think that's flat enough for the first bunch of men!” Lance exclaimed, and pulled the cookie cutter of a standard gingerbread man out from the silverware drawer. “Before every stamp, we dip it into flour, so the dough doesn't stick to the metal.” He explained, passing the large metal cooking cutter into Keith’s waiting hand.

The brown metal was a little bigger than Keith’s hand, and it shone softly in the light above their heads. “Okay.” Keith muttered, and dipped the cutter into flour, as instructed. With great consideration, he stared down at the dough to decide where he wanted to put the first cut.

Lance watched him with a mixture of fondness and adoration. How did he get so lucky with this boy?

Finally, Keith put the first cut down at the very top portion of the dough, making sure to press down on it so the cutter went all the way down to the counter below. He smiled triumphantly to himself, before pulling it out carefully and repeating the motions until the entire dough spread out before him was covered in cut gingerbread men.

“Now what?”

“Now,” Lance said, and bumped his hip against Keith’s gently to scootch him to the side, “we take the remaining dough away to reuse, and put the men on a tray.” He started to do just that, started at an edge and peeled away the bits of dough between men, starting a pile at the top of the flour covered surface. “Mind grabbing me the metal flipper in the silverware drawer?”

Keith rummaged around for a minute in the very full silverware drawer, and returned with the exact flipper they was looking for.

Once all the extra dough was in a ball off to the side, Lance took the flipper from Keith’s outstretched hand and dipped it in flour. With practiced ease, he slid the wide metal flipper between the counter and the gingerbread, picking it up as smoothly and gingerly as possible, before depositing it on a tray.

“Do you want to try?” Lance asked, peeking back over his shoulder at Keith.

With a nod, Keith stepped forwards, eyeing up the fragile looking gingerbread men. “Dip the flipper in flour, then pick up carefully?”

“Exactly!”

Keith hunkered down so he was eye level with the counter, and carefully slid the metal between counter and dough, lifting slowly.

But, one of the man’s arms started tearing, and Keith immediately froze, staring at the nearly detached arm in absolute horror.

Lance had to fight the urge to laugh at Keith. “No, babe it’s fine.” He quickly assured, and used his finger and thumb to pinch the dough back together. “See? Easy fix!”

Keith breathed out a sigh of relief, and pulled the rest of the cookie off of the counter, and placed it on the tray next to the one Lance started. Lance backed away to start preheating the oven while Keith took his time moving the men onto the tray.

As soon as he was done, he turned back to Lance, still brandishing the flipper in his hand. “What now?”

“We repeat! Roll the unused dough out, stamp more men, put them on the sheet!”

With a nod, Keith turned back to the counter to do as he was told.

“Oh, remember to put more flour down.” Lance suddenly reminded him. “So the men don’t stick when we move them.”

Keith ended up putting more flour on the counter than really necessary, but that was fine. At least the dough wouldn’t stick. Lance had done the opposite more times than he could count.

He glanced over at the drying rack, happy to see that the dishes from this morning were finally dry. He grabbed the big bowl he’d used to mix dry ingredients from the drying rack, and brought it back over to its home, right where Keith was standing. With a light tap to his hip, Keith shifted over a bit, giving Lance access to the cupboard.

Once Lance had it put away, he stood up with a grunt, just as Keith dropped the newly hand-rolled ball of dough into the flour, sending some poofing outwards. Most of which flew directly into Lance’s face.

He jerked upright, spluttering at the sudden taste of flour in his mouth.

Keith’s hands flew up to his face to cover his mouth. “ _Shit_ , oh my god Lance I am so sorry!”

Lance narrowed his eyes over at him, trying to gauge if the apology was genuine or not. When he couldn’t tell, he slowly reached over towards the big container of flour and dipped his hand inside.

Keith’s eyes widened, before he narrowed them and pointed a finger threateningly at Lance. “Do _not_ \--”

A cloud of flour poofed around Keith’s face. When it dispersed a little, Lance bent over laughing at the look of shock twisting Keith’s features. His entire face was white, and his hair took on a more grey appearance with the amount of flour coating it.

“Did you just, _fucking_ ,” Keith wiped his eyes with the backs of his hands, trying to rid them of flour, “ **pelt** me with flour?”

“No?” Lance replied innocently. “Why would I do such a thing?”

“Oh, it’s on.” Keith whispered dangerously, before lurching forwards to grab the entire jar of flour and stick his fist inside.

Lance shrieked, and dashed off as quickly as his socked feet could in the kitchen. Keith managed to throw a handful of flour at his back before he got enough traction to actually escape and put the counter between them as protection.

They deeked and dodged around each other, trying to get to the other side of the counter and still avoid each other. Lance scooped up a handful of flour from the counter, and threw it as hard as he could at Keith’s face, hoping to blind him for just long enough to get the container of flour out of his greedy hands.

Keith squealed, and tried to take the jar back, but his feet suddenly slipped out from under him. With a shout, he fell backwards, but his grip on the top of the container of flour was strong. Lance held fast, but ended up tipping over too.

When Lance landed, part of the open container of flour fell directly onto Keith’s chest. With quiet horror, they both stared at the small mountain of flour on Keith’s chest.

A chime from the oven broke the silence, reminding them of what their task had been before the flour fight. After a moment, Keith righted the container so no more would spill out, and let his head thump back against the kitchen floor. “Oh my god.” he whispered.

That made Lance finally break out laughing at the hilarity of the situation. “ _Oh my god_ , you have a shitton of flour on you.” he wheezed, and rolled into Keith’s shoulder, laughing all the while.

Keith groaned. “Don’t remind me.” With a sly smile, he reached for a handful of the flour on his chest, and released it directly on top of Lance’s head.

But Lance was laughing too hard to really notice. He brushed it out of his eyes as best he could, but he was practically crying now from laughing so hard. “I can’t believe half of the flour in this apartment is now on you.”

“Hey, half of that half is on you now.” Keith grouched, and rubbed a hand through Lance’s hair, spreading the substance in as much as possible until there was hardly any brown in his hair. “See? You’re turning grey.”

“I resent that.” Lance huffed, and sat up suddenly, staring down at his boyfriend with a huge smile on his face. “Wow, we made such a mess, and we’ve barely started.”

Keith’s eyes flickered down to Lance’s lips, that were only a few distant inches from his own. He wanted those lips on his like, _yesterday_ , so he slowly started leaning upwards to do just that.

But Lance leaned back and started standing up, so Keith groaned and let his head fall back to the floor with a dull thump. Lance was quick to offer a hand down to help him up, which he took, begrudgingly.

“We should finish up these cookies, and then we can clean up.” Lance said, and turned back to the sink to wash what flour he could off of his hands and forearms. Not that it made much of a difference. “You can shower here, if you want?”

Keith shrugged, and lifted the flour up from the floor, and put it back in its spot on the counter. “Sure.”

“I’m gonna have to buy more flour before Hunk comes home…” Lance mused. “He _can’t_ know that we spilt like, half of his good baking flour.” He came up behind Keith, and hooked his chin over his shoulder, mirroring what Keith did to him minutes before. “Want me to take over?”

Keith shook his head, and picked up the rolling pin again. “No, I’ve got it.” He dipped his hand into the flour, grabbing a handful, and coated the rolling pin with a light layer, just like he saw Lance do, before starting to re-roll the dough.

Lance watched fondly as his boyfriend rolled out the dough just as he showed him. He couldn’t help but feel like they were being extremely domestic, and he was _really_ here for it. He just thought it was a little soon to ask Keith what his plans for their future was.

Getting the rest of the dough rolled and shaped was quick work, and what little remained Lance rolled out and threw on the tray anyways. When Keith asked why, Lance told him it could be their tester to see if the dough was good.

They put the first tray into the oven to bake, and Lance set the timer on the oven for the time the cookies would need to spend in the oven. Once the timer was set and the cookies started baking, he spun back to face Keith, giving him a once over. He was almost entirely covered in flour, both from generally working with flour _and_ from the fight, and Lance couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.

“I _really_ want to shower.” Keith muttered, and crossed his arms over his chest defensively. “This feels weird.”

“You can go shower now, if you want.” Lance offered. “I’ll watch over the cookies.”

Keith glanced down at his clothes. “I, uh, didn’t exactly plan for something like this to happen.” he said, gesturing down to the state of his clothing.

“You can borrow something of mine.” Lance offered. “I’ll lay something out for you for when you get out.”

Keith’s eyes widened for a moment, but he gave Lance a smile. “Alright, I’d love that.” He turned and walked out of the kitchen towards the bathroom.

Lance waited until the door closed, and the shower turned on to leave the kitchen to head into his room. He grabbed a pair of his comfiest pajama pants, a new pair of socks and some underwear, but hesitated when trying to find a top. He glanced over to his closet, and a wicked idea came to mind. Grabbing the article he was looking for, he rushed out of his room towards the bathroom.

  
He made sure to knock loudly on the door so Keith could hear him over the shower. “I won’t peek, but I’m gonna toss some clothes onto the counter for you, okay?”

“Okay!”

He quickly opened the door, tossed the clothes onto the edge of the counter by the door, and closed it again, without peeking just like he promised. With a smirk, he practically skipped back into the kitchen to keep an eye on the cookies.

He turned the light on in the oven, and took a peek at the goodies inside. They looked to be darkening up nicely, and were starting to puff up a bit, so they would only need a few more minutes until they were done. So he went into the living room to grab his phone off of the coffee table, where it’d been since Keith arrived.

He saw a message from Hunk, from about half an hour ago.

**_Hunky-Bear_ **

_forgot to tell you, but i bought some mistletoe! its in my room for u on my desk_

Lance stared at his phone, trying to see if what he was reading was what truly was there. But after rubbing his eyes and staring at the message again, he decided that it truly was what was written, so he hightailed it into Hunk’s room to check.

Sure enough, there was a little fake sprig of mistletoe sitting innocently beside Hunk’s textbook. It even had a cute little red ribbon holding it together, with a small loop tied in so it could be hung somewhere.

With a giddy smile, Lance rushed back out into the living room to try to find somewhere to hang it.

But, the oven dinged in the kitchen, so Lance put his phone and mistletoe both on the counter as he stepped over to the stove. Making sure to grab a good oven mitt, Lance opened the oven and pulled out the first tray of gingerbread men.

They looked absolutely delicious, and he was so excited to try one. Fortunately, he had the foresight to put the tray with the trial cookie in the oven first. He took it over to the counter and put it on top of the hot plate waiting there, and grabbed a new tray, quickly putting it in the oven and restarting the timer.

He dropped the mitt beside the hot cookie sheet, and turned back to his phone and the mistletoe. He looked around the kitchen, looking for the best spot to hang the little sprig.

The only place he could really think to put it was in the doorway linking the kitchen to the living room, underneath the overhang so someone could see it from either room. There was even already a new hook there. Lance couldn’t help but wonder how that got there, or more importantly, _when_ , but he knew he’d have to thank Hunk when he got back.

A few minutes later, Keith emerged from the bathroom, wearing the clothes Lance laid out for him, except for the sweater. The sweater was clutched out beside him, leaving Keith’s chest out on display for Lance to see.

Lance practically choked on his own tongue at the sight. As much as he was excited to see Keith in an ugly Christmas sweater, seeing it _off_ of him was just as good of a sight as well. He wasn’t sure what his mouth was trying to do exactly, whether it wanted to drool or go dry at the new expanse of pale toned skin he got to marvel, but he really wished his body would make up its mind, because that boy needed his attention, like, _yesterday_.

“What is this?” Keith questioned, shaking the Christmas sweater at him.

Lance tried to swallow past the lump in his throat, and threw an easy smirk on his lips. “It’s _Christmas_ , everyone is legally obligated to wear ugly sweaters.”

“You’re not wearing one,” Keith shifted his weight onto one hip, and the motion drew Lance’s gaze down. His chest was still flushed red from the shower, and the things he wanted to do to him…

“Not yet, I’m not.” Lance said instead. “I still have to shower, remember?”

Keith’s shoulders dropped, but he rolled his eyes in response. “Fine. I’ll wear this,” he pulled it out in front of him, to get another look at the front, and grimaced, “ _thing_ if you swear that yours will be uglier.”

A soft laugh left Lance’s lips before he even registered it. “I can do you one better; of my and Hunk’s collection, you can pick out which one you want me to wear.”

“Deal.” Keith’s eyes were practically glittering in excitement.

The timer went off behind him, so Lance turned to pull the tray out of the oven, and swap it with the final tray. Once he reset the timer, he turned around and was met with the sight of Keith in one of his own very ugly Christmas sweaters.

He’d already known that it was going to be a big on him, since it was a little loose on his own frame, but seeing his boyfriend nearly _drowning_ in the long red sleeves of the sweater made Lance want to get down on his knees and thank every god or goddess who may have ever existed.

The sweater itself was hideous, red with green and white stripes down the arms, but on the chest there were two gingerbread ninjas fighting, or, ‘Ginjas’, as the word above them said. But somehow, Keith pulled it off, because _of course_ he did. The red brought out the darkness of his hair and eyes, and somehow made him even more stunning than he already was. How did Keith look so damn good in such an ugly Christmas sweater? It just wasn’t fair.

Keith also wasn’t playing fair with his hair tied back in a high pony. The entire ensemble, from the hair to wearing Lance’s clothes and just looking so damn adorable and hot and sexy just sucked the air out of Lance’s lungs, hard enough that he wasn’t sure he’d ever breathe again.

But, he managed to suck in a stuttering breath after a moment of openly staring. The slow spreading smile told Lance that Keith knew _exactly_ what kind of effect the outfit had on him, but he couldn’t even care. Keith deserved to know what Lance thought of him, and right now? He looked absolutely _stunning_.

“Do you, uh, you mind taking out the last batch when it’s done?” Lance asked, and practically bolted past Keith to rush into his bedroom to grab clothes. Except a shirt, because he promised that Keith could pick it out.

He showered quickly, thinking about all the fun they still had planned before Keith went home for the night. They still had to try out their baking, open stockings, and maybe watch a few Christmas movies…

And, hopefully make use of that mistletoe...

Once Lance dried off and got dressed into what he could, he was surprised to see there was still no ugly Christmas sweater. With a frown, he hung his towel up behind the door, and let it swing open.

Keith stood on the other side with a sly smirk on his face, and something hidden behind his back.

Lance eyed him warily. “Whatcha got there?”

“Your sweater.” he said ominously, and brought his hands out, showing what article he picked out.

As soon as Lance realized what it was, he broke out laughing. He tried to cover up his loud laughter with his hands, but the effort sent him backwards a few steps, bending at the middle from the force of his laughter.

“A deal’s a deal!” Keith said, throwing the article of clothing at Lance’s face. “You get to wear this one.”

“Alright, alright.” Lance choked out between laughs, and straightened up enough to get the thin red and green fabric over his head. As soon as he let it settle comfortably on his chest, he struck up the best pose he could while still trying to contain laughter. “Well, do you think I’m ‘Santa’s Favourite Ho’?”

Keith’s cool facade finally crumbled as he broke out laughing at Lance’s ridiculous everything. The horrible sweater, tied with Lance being Lance was enough to do that to him.

Lance took in the sight of Keith hunched over laughing with him, and swooped forwards to pull him into his arms so they could laugh together. Keith let all of his weight into Lance, sending them stumbling for a moment before Lance managed to right them.

Laughter continued to ring out into the apartment for a few minutes, until both boys managed to catch their breath. Lance had always thought their laughter sounded amazing together, and this just served to solidify any cracks in his reasoning.

Keith sucked in a deep breath, his laughter trailing out as he finally looked up at Lance again. Again, he realized that they were only mere inches apart.

Lance smiled down at him, before lifting a hand up from his waist to boop his nose, and stepped away. “We should go see about those cookies. I’m sure the tester one is cool enough now!”

As Lance left Keith standing in the doorway hovering on his toes, Keith groaned and let his head fall forwards against the door jam. After a moment, he followed his stupid boyfriend out into the kitchen.

“I’m actually surprised I managed to wait this long,” Lance was saying, “because my siblings and I, when we were younger, we used to eat these almost as fast as mama pulled them out of the oven. She used to chase us all around the house with the flipper she used to put them on the trays.” He smiled, and leaned a hip against the counter, looking distant. “My father loves gingerbread just as much as us kids do, so he’d usually get in on it, too. Mama would yell at us, but she never stayed mad.”

“Sounds like you guys were a handful.”

“Oh, definitely.” Lance said with a smile. “There are days I’m amazed all of us made it into adulthood.” He reached for the first tray they cooked, and picked up the lopsided tester cookie, and offered it up to Keith.

Instead of taking it from Lance’s hand, Keith leaned forward and bit into the cookie. Lance’s eyes widened for a moment, before a smile took over his face.

Keith moaned at the wonderful assault of flavours that hit his tongue as he chewed. “This is the _best_ gingerbread cookie I’ve ever had.” he said around a mouthful of cookie. Once he swallowed, he said “These are amazing!”

“I’m glad you like them,” Lance bit into the cookie, eating part of where Keith bit into the cookie. Keith couldn’t help but think that the indirect kiss was sweet, and might be the only type of kiss he gets tonight if Lance kept dodging his obvious invitations.

Lance passed Keith one of the actual gingerbread men, and finished up the rest of the tester before grabbing one for himself. “What do you want to do now?”

“Want to open stockings? Is that a thing your family does Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day?”

“Well, you’re here, so let’s do stockings today.”

Keith grabbed another gingerbread man for the road, and walked ahead of Lance back into the living room. He plopped down on the couch, and watched as Lance stuffed an entire gingerbread man into his mouth to grab both stockings.

As Lance sat down, he passed Keith’s stocking to him, and frowned. “‘Is mugh ‘t bn m bst ea.” he mumbled, trying to speak around the food in his mouth.

“What?”

Once Lance swallowed, he tried again. “This might not have been my best idea.”

“Ah. No, maybe not.” Keith said with a chuckle.

“Alright!” Lance exclaimed, and motioned towards Keith’s stocking. “You open something up first. Then I’ll open something, then you. Sound good?”

“Okay.” Keith murmured, and reached into the stocking, pulling out the first thing his fingers touched. It was long and cylindrical, wrapped in festive blue paper with reindeer on it.

He made quick work of the wrapping, letting the loose paper fall to the floor as he stared down at the gift. It was a bottle of conditioner, a brand similar to what Lance used. Keith levelled a look up at his boyfriend.

“Hey, okay, so at first I bought it as a joke.” Lance was quick to say. “But then I looked into your shower the last time I was there and you use two-in-one. _Two-in-one_ shampoo and conditioner, Keith, that’s just wrong!” he exclaimed.

Keith rolled his eyes, and let the bottle drop into his lap. “Fine, okay, I’ll use this.” he relented. Lance looked happy with that answer, so Keith motioned for him to reach into his stocking. “Your turn.”

“Alright,” Lance hummed, and reached inside the stocking, rifling around for a moment before grabbing a small cylinder package wrapped in shiny red. Since it was small, Keith ended up using a little more paper than he’d meant to, so it took Lance a few long moments to unwrap it.

Inside, was a Lush lip scrub, the same one he was looking at the last time they were at the mall together. “Babe!” he exclaimed, and launched forwards to wrap his arms around Keith’s neck. “I can’t believe you remembered this! I mentioned it, like, once!”

“Once was enough for me,” Keith said with a smile, wrapping his arms around Lance in turn. “Plus, you love mint so it was easy to remember the only mint flavoured lip scrub Lush has.”

“True.” Lance mused, and reached over to put the scrub safely on the table. “Okay, now you!”

He reached into the stocking, and came up with a weird flat gift that didn’t have any solid edges. Lance was forced to wrap it thickly since he could only really bundle up the gift inside, but it was done up in the same blue wrapping paper as the first gift. Once he finally found an edge that wasn’t completely buried in tape, he pulled back the paper to reveal the gift inside.

Nestled in the white underside of the paper, was a beautifully hand braided black, red and blue bracelet. The majority of it was black, but there were thinner strands of their favourite colours woven in, giving the lovely bracelet a spot of colour.

“Oh wow, this is gorgeous!” Keith exclaimed. He crumpled up the paper in his hand and let it drop to the floor with his other wrapping. He offered his left wrist up to Lance, “Would you put it on for me?”

With a nod, Lance took the bracelet from Keith’s hand and looped it around his wrist, threading the button through the loop and leaning back, looking at how it settled on Keith’s wrist.

“Thank you.” Keith said earnestly, and twisted his wrist back and forth to get a good look at it. “It’s beautiful.”

“You’re welcome.” Lance said, and reached into his stocking for his next gift.

This one was big, and shifted in his hand in a way that felt familiar. With narrowed eyes, he pulled back the blue patterned wrapping to reveal a familiar store-bought bag of scotch mints. “You got me scotch mints!” he exclaimed, and immediately opened the bag up to pop one into his mouth.

“I did!” Keith said with a smile, “you told me that you liked them because your nana used to keep them in a crystal bowl at her house, and they remind you of her.”

“I can’t believe you remember that story,” Lance said around the mint. He offered the bag up to Keith.

Keith reached in and took a mint, popping it into his mouth. He immediately tried to bite down on it, and winced when it didn’t budge.

“That’s _not_ how you eat these.” Lance raised a brow at him. “You suck on them.”

Rather than answering, Keith stuck a hand into his half empty stocking and pulled out the next gift.

This one was a simple white envelope, not even sealed. When he pulled up the flap, a familiar embossed logo was the first thing he saw. With a small gasp, he pulled the card out from the envelope, reading the contents quickly. It was a dinner reservation for Keith’s favourite high end place in town, one that was difficult to get a reservation at, for the day after boxing day.

“You got us a reservation _here_?!” Keith exclaimed, whirling around to face Lance.

Lance looked a little smug. “Yup. Had that gift the longest. Booked it an entire month in advance.”

“But, we weren’t even dating a month ago.”

“If that was still true when the reservation came around, I thought I’d be able to change your mind.”

Keith rolled his eyes, but the smile never strayed from his lips. “We both know that’s true. Okay, open your next one.”

With an excited wiggle that Keith couldn’t help but find adorable, Lance dove back into his stocking, pulling out an envelope as well. He saw Keith flush out of the corner of his eye, and his interest was immediately piqued. He tore open the tape holding the corner down, and fished out the card waiting inside.

It was obviously handmade, with a two tone Christmas tree dominating the front, and big blocky letters spelling out “Merry Christmas” in alternating red and green colours.

Lance couldn’t keep the smile from his face looking at the front of the card. Who knows how many copies Keith went through to get the best version of what he wanted. He knew Keith was a bit of a perfectionist in that way, even if he wasn’t great at arts and crafts. But Lance was absolutely floored by the sentiment.

When he finally opened the card, he was surprised to see Keith’s hand writing, and not something generic and typed. He could barely read the contents before his eyes started misting over.

Keith immediately scooched closer to his side and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “Lance, baby are you okay? Do you not like it?” He asked frantically.

“No, I love it.” Lance sniffed, and leaned into Keith’s embrace. “I wasn’t expecting it, and it just caught me off guard. That’s all.”

Keith let his head fall sideways, so his cheek was resting against the top of Lance’s head. “Well, I always see handwritten cards from your family around here, so I thought… I might add one.”

“You’re incredibly thoughtful sometimes, you know that?”

A soft puff of air rustled Lance’s hair as Keith breathed out a light chuckle. “I try.”

Lance sniffed, and rubbed his nose with the back of his sleeve, before sitting up again, and looking down to Keith’s almost empty stocking. “Okay, you go.”

There were two wrapped boxes left in his stocking, one of which was bigger than the other. Keith grabbed the bigger one first, and ripped into it. He couldn’t recognize the packaging at first, until he had the entire box unwrapped.

It was a box of windmill cookies, Keith’s favourite. “Oh my god, you remembered.”

“Of course I did!” Lance bumped his knee against Keith’s. “You complained for like, hours that one time that windmill cookies are only seasonal. So, I made sure to get you a box while they’re _in_ season.”

“Thank you.” Keith said sincerely. He placed the box off to the side, and turned back to Lance. “Okay, I’m excited for you to open these last two things.”

“You are, are you?” Lance reached into the stocking, and pulled out the smaller of the two gifts, staring down at the shiny red wrapping. He gave it a bit of a shake, trying to hear what could be inside. But it made no sound, much to Lance’s disappointment.

“Just open it!”

Lance quickly tore the paper back from the box, surprised to see a little black box. He lifted it open, and gasped.

Sitting against a small white cushion was a little gold pendent with a shark on it.

“We totally got each other gifts of our favourite animals.” Lance murmured, and thumbed the smooth gold surface of the pendent.

Keith shifted beside him. “What?”

“Open your last present.” Lance said instead. He closed the box up and put it on the table beside his sugar lip scrub.

The final package Keith pulled out was about the size of his palm, wrapped in green wrapping paper with John Deere tractors on it. He glanced up at Lance, who looked a little embarrassed about it.

“Had a leftover piece from my nephew’s gifts that was the perfect size to wrap this for you.” he explained.

“Ah,” Keith said, and pulled the paper off. Underneath the paper was a small white box, and when he opened the lid, a vibrant purple hippopotamus figurine sat there, nestled in bunched up newspaper. “Oh my god,” Keith cooed, “this is so precious! Look at it!” he pulled the little figurine out of the box carefully, cupping it in his palm to stare down at it. “Look at how chubby he is! Oh my god, he’s adorable!”

“Do you like it?” Lance asked bashfully.

“I love it!” Keith leaned over and pressed a swift kiss to Lance’s cheek. “You know I love hippos!”

Lance reached up to touch the spot where Keith’s lips were moments before, but Keith was too busy staring down at the figurine to notice.

“We really _did_ buy each other our favourite animals. I can’t believe how in sync we are.” Keith put the figurine back in the box, before turning back to Lance again. “C’mon, you have one last stocking gift.”

He reached into the stocking a final time, pulling out the last gift, and let the stocking drop to the floor as he looked down at his last gift. It was small and rectangular, and when he gave it an experimental shake nothing moved. The wrapping paper was easy enough to pull off of this gift, and he pulled it back to reveal a simple shiny black picture frame.

But the picture frame wasn’t empty. Inside, was a picture Lance recognized as their first date. Shiro had insisted that he get a photo of the two of them before they left. Keith had been reluctant, and looked a little reluctant in the photo, but Lance was all smiles with an arm thrown around Keith.

He couldn’t tear his eyes from it, even when Keith shifted over to wrap an arm around Lance’s shoulders again. “Is it okay?”

Instead of answering, Lance turned his head to press his lips to Keith’s.

Keith jerked back slightly in shock, but quickly caught up with the program and hummed into the kiss. The hand around Lance’s shoulders came up to cup his cheek instead, and his free hand moved to rest on top of Lance’s knee.

A moment later, Lance pulled back to gauge Keith’s expression. His eyes stayed closed for a few long seconds after they pulled apart. “Was… Was that okay?” Lance whispered.

“Okay?” Keith questioned, a huge smile taking over his face. “I’ve been trying to kiss you _all day_ , but you kept pulling away.”

“Oh.” Lance said dumbly.

“Yeah, _oh_.” Keith snarked, but it didn’t have any real bite to it, especially when Keith leaned forwards to kiss Lance again.

Lance brought his hand up to tangle it into Keith’s still damp hair, between the ponytail and his head, and Keith moaned softly at the motion. He used his grip on Keith to pull him more firmly into a kiss.

Their breath tasted like a mix of gingerbread and soft mint, and Lance couldn’t help but think it was perfect for their first kiss.

After a moment, he pulled back slightly with a light chuckle. “I was totally planning to kiss you under the mistletoe.” he whispered against Keith’s lips.

“What?” Keith pulled back at the mention of mistletoe, looking around the apartment for it.

Lance nodded. “Hunk bought some mistletoe, I hung it up while you were in the shower. It’s in the entryway to the kitchen.”

Keith’s gaze flicked over to the area, and his eyes lit up as soon as he saw it. Suddenly, he pulled away from Lance and stood up.

As soon as Keith’s warmth was gone from his side, Lance whined, watching him leave. “Where are you going?”

Keith didn’t answer, but kept walking until he was standing in the entryway, directly under the mistletoe. He crossed his arms, staring pointedly at Lance, waiting for him to join him.

“Oh, I see how it is.” Lance crooned, and stood up, walking slowly over to where Keith was waiting for him. “You want to make out with me under the mistletoe, in the spirit of Christmas and all that, right?”

“Or,” Keith grabbed onto Lance’s ridiculous Christmas sweater as soon as he was within reach, pulling them back together like they were meant to be, “I just wanted to make out with my really hot boyfriend, and this is a _really_ good excuse.”

“‘Really hot boyfriend’, huh?” Lance whispered, and ducked his head so their lips brushed as he spoke. “I know you are, but what am I?”

Lance only had time to see Keith roll his eyes before he was being spun and pinned against the doorframe, and Keith’s lips were on him like he needed them to breathe.

Being pressed up against the wall like this didn’t really give anywhere for Lance to go, but he couldn’t imagine any other place he’d rather be at this moment. The solidness of Keith pressed against him, as he pressed up onto his tiptoes to rock his world was intoxicating, and Lance wound his arms around Keith’s waist to pull him impossibly closer than they already were. Keith’s mouth opened in a moan at the motion, and Lance used the opportunity to lick into his mouth like he’d been dying to do probably since the moment they met.

Keith’s hands knotted tightly into the fabric over his chest, and Lance was nearly positive that Keith could feel his racing heartbeat at his fingertips. He had no shame in letting Keith know how much he affected him, and only hoped he had the same effect on Keith.

Keith pulled back with a small gasp, and Lance fought the urge to jump right back in when he saw how red and kissable his lips looked.

“Woah,” they both whispered at the same time, then broke out into giggles. Keith’s eyes crinkled adorably when he laughed, but even more so when his cheeks were happily flushed and his lips oh so red. Lance had a feeling this boy might kill him some day.

“So,” Lance started, but paused to press one more lingering kiss to Keith’s lips, “what now?”

Keith hummed thoughtfully, his nose pressed to the space beside Lance’s, “wanna watch some movies?”

“Sure!” Lance agreed, and pressed a kiss to Keith’s forehead before stepping out of the embrace. “You pick something, and I’ll clean up the mess we made with the wrapping paper.

With a nod, Keith walked over towards the tv and crouched down, looking at the movie options they had while Lance made his way back to the couch, grabbing and crumpling up all the wrapping paper laying around.

As soon as he deposited it in the kitchen garbage and came back, Keith had three movies in his hand, all Christmas related; The Holiday, Christmas Vacation, and Elf.

“Ooh, good choices.” Lance said, flopping onto the couch and picking up the remotes to turn everything on. “Which one do you want to watch first?”

“The Holiday is a Christmas movie, right?” Keith clarified. “I’ve never seen it before.”

Lance levelled him with a look, before saying “We’re watching The Holiday first, then.”

Keith looked stunned, but put that disc in anyways.

* * *

The movies flew by with Keith pressed into Lance’s side. They only stopped their marathon when they needed to switch discs, and when Keith said he wanted popcorn during Elf.

It was nearly pitch black outside by the time the credits for Christmas Vacation, the third movie they watched rolled.

Keith sat upright with a yawn, stretching his arms over his head. “That was fun,” he murmured, and smiled over at Lance. “I really enjoyed The Holiday.”

“Knew you would.” Lance sat up as well, and pressed a quick kiss to Keith’s cheek before standing up to take their popcorn dish out into the kitchen. “It’s my mum’s favourite Christmas movie, which means I saw it every single year. It’s grown on me.”

“Makes sense,” Keith agreed, following Lance into the kitchen. He glanced to the floor, and grimaced. “Oh man, we really need to clean.” he said, eying the flour still spilt on the floor.

“I think that can be a future me problem.” Lance said, walking past it and back over to Keith, wrapping his arms around his waist. “I can deal with it tomorrow.”

Keith’s shoulders went lax beneath Lance’s touch, and he let his head fall to the side so Lance could place a lingering kiss there. “I guess I should get going, then.” Keith said reluctantly. “It’s getting late.”

“You don’t have to go.” Lance was quick to say. When Keith froze beneath him, he cleared his throat. “I mean, if you don’t want to. Like you said, it’s late, and if you want, you can spend the night here. Unless you have plans for Christmas Day, then, I definitely don’t want to get in the way of--”

“ _Lance_ ,” Keith interrupted, and spun around slowly in Lance’s grasp to face him. He brought both hands up to cradle Lance’s face, making sure he had his undivided attention. “I would love to. Don’t overthink it.”

“‘Don’t overthink it’, right.” Lance repeated. His eyes were a little wide, but after a moment, he relaxed in Keith’s grasp. “Okay.”

“Okay.”

Lance leaned down to capture Keith’s lips again, because he could, before leaning back slightly. “Ever had Bailey’s in your coffee before?”

Keith frowned, and shook his head. “No? I know it’s a thing, but I’ve never done it.”

“It’s good.” Lance assured. A small wicked smile took over his lips. “But be warned, when you start running out of coffee, I put in more Bailey’s.”

Keith laughed out loud, shaking his head. “Trying to get me drunk before 9am?”

“Obviously.” Lance said seriously.

Keith pinched Lance’s side, and ducked away before he could retaliate. “We should go to bed.” he announced, and started walking towards Lance’s bedroom. “Have anything I can wear?”

Lance followed at a slower pace, watching Keith’s back as he walked ahead. “You’re free to whatever you want.” He paused by the bathroom, watching until Keith left his sight. Then he turned into the bathroom to start doing his nightly routine.

He was alone for a few minutes, giving him enough time to wash his face and start brushing his teeth before Keith joined him. Keith bumped his hip against his, and waited for him to be done with the toothbrush before taking it for himself.

Lance shuffled to the side to watch Keith while he brushed his teeth. He’d taken off the ugly Christmas sweater, which was a damn shame, but he stole one of Lance’s old tank tops that had some holes in it and decided to completely ignore pants, which was more than alright in his books. Lance usually slept shirtless anyways, so they were perfect for each other.

As soon as Keith was done, and the toothbrush was back in its holder, Keith reached for Lance’s hand, twining their fingers together and leading him back into Lance’s bedroom.

He’d left the light on for them, so when they entered the room Lance untangled himself from Keith to go over to his dresser to grab his sleep pants. He could hear Keith shuffling around behind him, getting into bed and getting comfy while he shucked everything but his boxers and slipped his sleep pants on overtop.

He shut out the light and padded carefully over to the bed, pulling back the covers and tucking himself in beside Keith. As soon as he got settled, he jerked upright again. “Shit, gotta grab my phone, I’ll be right back.” He quickly jumped out of bed and walked back out into the living room, retrieving his phone from its place on the coffee table and coming back to bed.

As soon as he flopped back down into bed, Keith curled up against him as he tried to plug his phone into the charger in the dark. As soon as he put it down, he wrapped an arm around Keith and pulled him more firmly against him.

“Today was a good day,” Keith murmured into his neck.

Lance couldn’t help but smile, even though Keith couldn’t see it. “I agree. Merry Christmas, babe.”

“Merry Christmas.”

* * *

Lance jerked awake the next morning to the sound of his phone ringing.

With a groan, he rolled over, out from the weight slung over his chest to pick his noisy phone up. He squinted at the screen until he could see it more clearly, shocked to see a skype call coming up.

He rolled onto his back and hoped the natural light starting to come into his bedroom would be enough as he opened the call.

As soon as he answered, his entire family yelled “Merry Christmas!” at the camera.

“Aww, Merry Christmas guys.” Lance said as cheerily as he could, still trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes.

Everyone laughed at his deep sleepy voice with various tones. He could hear his mother’s tutting, even before he could see her. “Honey, you’re just getting up?” she scolded softly. “It’s nearly eight in the morning!”

“Was up late last night.” he murmured, and covered a yawn with his hand. “I didn’t have the kids to get me up at five in the morning on Christmas.”

Suddenly, a groan came from beside him, and Keith rolled over, winding his arm around Lance’s neck.

Everyone on the other end of the call froze, staring at the camera with wide eyes. “ _Lance_ ,” Veronica hissed, as his parents shooed his niece and nephew out of the frame, so they didn’t hear the rest of the conversation, “do you have someone in your bed right now?”

Lance jerked upright and out of Keith’s grasp, suddenly _very_ awake, and made sure to keep the frame focused solely on him. “It’s not what you think.” He quickly assured. “Keith was here all day yesterday, and when we rounded off the night, it was too late for him to--”

“Keith?” his father interrupted, a smile curling his lips upwards. “Your boyfriend?”

A soft smile twisted Lance’s lips before he realized it. “Yeah, my boyfriend.” he confirmed. “We spent most of the day together yesterday, and we opened up our stockings last night. We’re gonna do our other gifts for each other later today.”

“Sounds like you’re making out just fine without us.” His mother said with a knowing smile. “We can chat later, once you’ve had time to wake up.”

“Okay, mum.”

“Maybe we can finally meet Keith, too.” Veronica said slyly.

Lance rolled his eyes, but nodded. “Maybe, yeah. If he’s up to it.” After exchanging brief goodbyes with assurances that they’d talk later, Lance dropped his phone back on the nightstand, and flopped back into bed.

As soon as his head touched the pillows, Keith burrowed back into his side, even going as far as wrapping a leg around his waist. “Your family seems nice,” he murmured into Lance’s chest.

Lance chuckled, and pressed a kiss to the top of Keith’s head. “Yeah, they are.” he agreed. “Did you hear they want to meet you?”

“Yeah. Kind of hard to miss.” he said with a yawn, and tried to burrow his nose into the space between Lance’s neck and shoulder, as if making a home there. “But, I’d love to meet them.”

“Really?” Lance whispered excitedly. “Do you really mean that?”

“Of course I do.” Keith replied, and sat up a little, blinking blearily down at him. “You already know Shiro, and he’s _my_ family, so it’s only fair that I meet yours.”

‘ _It’s only fair_ ’, Lance’s brain zeroed in on Keith’s choice of words. “If you think it’s because you _have_ to meet them, don’t let them pressure you. I know we haven’t been dating for all that long, and--”

“ ** _Lance_** ,” Keith groaned, and flopped down against his chest again, as if he never left, “I would be honoured to meet your family. I know how much they mean to you.”

Keith’s words made Lance’s heart soar. So, he did the only thing he could think to do; he leaned in to kiss Keith with as much love and passion as his words filled him with.

Keith hummed into the kiss, smiling so hard that he couldn’t really do much to reciprocate, and feeling Keith’s smile, Lance couldn’t help but smile in turn. It wasn’t so much a kiss as it was pressing their smiles together, and for some reason, it made Lance so damn happy.

With a soft laugh, he pulled back, simply watching as Keith opened his eyes and smiled at him. He let his eyes linger over the crinkles around Keith’s eyes as he smiled, the small divots on either side of his curled lips, the beautiful blush high on his cheeks. He was so damn beautiful, practically an ethereal being, one that Lance couldn’t believe was committed to _just_ him. So he reached up to tangle a hand into Keith’s hair, before leaning in to press another firmer kiss to Keith’s lips, more following in quick succession.

With a breathy gasp, Keith pulled back slightly, only far enough that he could talk. “We’ll never leave this bed if you keep doing that.” he whispered, his hand clenching in a fist against Lance’s chest.

“That wouldn’t be _such_ a bad thing,” Lance whispered huskily, and offered Keith a cocky smile. But he was quick to agree. As much as where things could lead would be nice, today was not the day for that. “How about I go get coffee started?” he offered instead.

Keith rolled over and flopped down beside Lance, and waved him off casually. “Still planning to get me drunk before 9am?”

“It’s a definite possibility,” Lance replied easily. He pushed the covers back, and pressed a quick kiss to Keith’s temple before pulling himself up and out of bed.

He paused at his dresser, swiftly deciding against a shirt but grabbed a pair of socks before leaving the bedroom. He knew how cold the floors could be in the morning, bouncing a bit when he tried to walk and put his socks on at the same time. Once they were on, one sock only properly pulled up his calf, he padded out into the kitchen to get the pot brewing. He’d had the foresight yesterday to prepare coffee for this morning, which he was thankful for now. He _hated_ having to get coffee ready in the morning, he was too impatient to get that glorious liquid into him.

He pulled two mugs out of the cupboard, putting them down on the counter, and pulled a spoon out from the silverware drawer. He let it clatter to the countertop beside the mugs, before stepping over to the fridge with a slight spring in his step, pulling out the bottle of Bailey’s Irish Coffee from the door.

He wasn’t sure exactly why this was a family tradition, but, every year on Christmas morning, all of the adults would have a couple cups of coffee with Bailey’s. It was also common to have during random family get-togethers, but on a much smaller scale. Lance tended to save it for solely Christmas, so it was a little more special.

He was kind of happy he didn’t have to finish the bottle himself, now that Keith was here to split it with him.

When the pot was done, he poured coffee into both mugs about two thirds full, leaving the top portion for the Bailey’s. As soon as he put the pot back, Keith came wandering out into the kitchen, his nose leading him towards the smell of blissful caffeine.

Keith’s hands immediately reached forwards to grab a mug, but Lance slapped his hands away, and cracked open the bottle. Keith, like Lance, had decided not to put on anymore clothes, so he was still just in his tank top and boxers, which Lance couldn’t help but quietly coo at. He quickly poured the first mug until the dark brown liquid turned creamier, and stirred it up before depositing it into Keith’s grabby hands.

As he poured the second mug for himself, Keith took a hesitant sip of the mixture, moaning happily at the taste. “Man, why don’t I drink this every day?” he whispered reverently into the liquid.

“Because you’d be _drunk_ every day.”

Keith shrugged slightly, as if not opposed to the idea, and Lance reached over to pinch Keith’s side playfully. Keith swatted the hand away with his free hand, carefully cradling the mug in his other hand so he didn’t spill any of the precious liquid.

Lance took a moment to have a tentative sip of his own drink, and hummed as it fell down it’s warm and fuzzy path into his stomach. “C’mon, let’s go curl up on the couch.” he offered, and linked his arm with Keith’s, leading him towards the living room.

Keith followed without complaint, too consumed with his coffee to care. He plopped down on the couch where Lance directed him, curling his legs up to his chest as soon as he was seated, and took a swig large enough that it drained nearly half of his mug.

“Huh, guess I better go grab the rest of the coffee and Bailey’s.” Lance muttered, levelling a look down at his boyfriend. He placed his mug down on the coffee table, and went back into the kitchen to retrieve the items.

As soon as he came back and placed them on the table, he grabbed his mug again and sat down beside Keith, who immediately threw his legs across Lance’s lap and leaned heavily into him.

“I never would have guessed you were a cuddler.” Lance said casually, letting his head fall sideways against the top of Keith’s head. “Definitely not complaining, though. I like this cuddly Keith.”

Keith grunted lowly, too wrapped up in his own coffee and comfort to care.

They simply sat like that for a few minutes, drinking coffee curled up on the couch together, slowly waking up in the bright morning light. It felt so domestic and easy that Lance couldn’t believe this was only the first time it was happening. It felt so easy, like he’d already been doing it his whole life.

Keith was the first to drain his entire mug, so he sat up to reach the coffee, pouring his cup a little over half full, before topping it off with Bailey’s. Lance forgot the spoon out in the kitchen, so Keith let it settle for a moment before taking a sip of what was surely almost entirely alcohol.

His cheeks were flushed red from the drink, even the tops of his ears were red, which Lance couldn’t help but find absolutely adorable. He was even more sure in the fact that this boy was going to kill him someday.

When Lance finished his first cup of coffee, his stomach rumbled lightly in his stomach. Distantly, he realized he hadn’t really eaten anything since cookies and popcorn yesterday. He set his mug down on the table, and turned back to Keith again. “Hey, I bought some cinnamon buns the other day that we can bake in the oven. You hungry?”

“Starving,” Keith admitted. “Want me to go put those in?”

“No, I’ve got it.” Lance said, and gently pushed at Keith’s legs until he could stand up. “But, I’d love the company in the kitchen while I get them ready?” he offered his free hand down to help Keith up off the couch.

With a nod, Keith took Lance’s offered hand, and they walked hand in hand into the kitchen.

Keith settled in on one of the bar stools while Lance carried on into the kitchen, making his way to the fridge to pull the roll of cinnamon buns out of the door. As he let the fridge door swing closed, he squinted at the tiny print on the can, trying to see what to set the oven temperature to. As soon as he found it, he stepped over to the stove and set it, before turning back to the counter where Keith was watching him with a fond expression.

“What?” Lance asked casually, putting the can on the counter.

Keith hummed, and shrugged, taking a sip of his coffee. “Nothing. You look at ease in the kitchen, that’s all.”

With a wink, Lance said, “Don’t tell Hunk that.”

Keith snorted, and hid a smile behind the rim of his mug. Lance bent down to retrieve a tray and some parchment paper, bringing the big roll of it up onto the counter. He passed the can of cinnamon buns over to Keith so he could open it for him while he put some parchment paper on the tray.

When it popped a moment later, echoing in the kitchen, Lance jumped slightly, causing Keith to laugh. With playfully narrowed eyes, Lance took the open canister back, and opened it completely, pulling out the rolled dough inside as carefully as he could. He left the small tub of icing at the bottom, and worked on separating the rolls and placing them evenly on the tray.

The oven played its little tune, letting the boys know the oven was preheated. Lance passed the mostly empty cinnamon bun casing back to Keith, and turned around to put the tray in the oven. “How long are these supposed to cook for?” He asked, placing the tray carefully on the hot oven rack.

“Hmm, fifteen minutes.”

“Cool,” Lance muttered, and set the time on the stove. Once it beeped at him that the timer was set, he turned back to his boyfriend with a smile. “I think we have time to open presents. What do you say?”

“Ooh, I’d love to.” Keith said excitedly, and put the can onto the counter, before picking his mug up again. He stood up from the stool with a bit of a lean, nearly tipping his mug over with him. He was quick to right himself with a giggle, which Lance’s heart was not prepared to handle, and practically skipped back into the living room and over to the Christmas tree. He picked up the two gifts, one wrapped in blue with snowmen, and the other, red with reindeer, and brought them over to the couch.

He plopped down on the couch, and looked back over his shoulder at Lance with an expectant look. “You coming?”

Lance was quick to follow, jumping onto the couch and landing with a bit of a bounce, making Keith chuckle lightly at his theatrics. Then he dropped the blue clad gift onto Lance’s lap.

Keith put his gift off to the side, and turned so he was facing Lance, giving him his full attention. “You go first this time.”

“Really?” Lance questioned. He picked up the box, giving it a light shake. “I wonder what it is,” he said excitedly. It was rectangular, almost like those foldable boxes you got growing up that _always_ had clothes in them.

“Open it, then.”

Without waiting a moment longer, Lance slipped his fingers beneath a seam, pulling up the tearable paper with ease. He made quick work of removing the packaging, and stared down at the box with immense confusion.

It was… A box of Lucky Charms cereal, the one with unicorn marshmallows? “...Breakfast?” Lance asked hesitantly.

Keith broke out laughing at Lance’s confusion, nearly losing his balance from laughing so hard. His hand jerked out behind him to keep his balance, but his laughter didn’t dissipate, not for a second.

Lance couldn’t help but stare as Keith laughed and laughed, his voice ringing out through the apartment. His cheeks were flushed a beautiful red colour, and tears were sparkling at the corners of his closed eyes. The way his shoulders shook with laughter was mesmerizing, and when he threw his head back to laugh even louder, Lance wanted to drag his fingertips along the long line of his throat. The boy was killing him and he didn’t even know it.

It took a while, but Keith was able to get better control on his laughter, and wipe away his tears. “No, dummy, I just used the cereal box to _wrap_ the gift.”

“Ah.” Lance murmured distractedly.

“A cereal box has square corners. The gifts inside _don’t_.”

Lance hummed, nodding slightly at Keith’s words. They _did_ make sense, even if wrapping them in a cereal box was an interesting way to wrap a gift. Without thinking much more of the choice of box, he opened the top portion and peered inside.

There were two small things wrapped up in white tissue paper inside. He pulled both items out, placing them on his lap, and deposited the empty cereal box on the floor. “Which one should I open first?”

Keith hummed, considering, before pointing to the larger of the two gifts.

With a grin, Lance pulled the large, somewhat roundish-squarish gift up, and tore the tissue paper away, revealing a sky blue polaroid camera. Lance gasped, and hugged the camera to his chest. “Oh my god!” he squealed, and pulled the camera away from his chest to look at it. “You got me a polaroid?!”

“Yeah,” Keith said with a smile. “I thought you’d like it.”

“I love it!” he exclaimed, and leaned forwards to press a kiss to Keith’s lips. “Thank you!”

Keith looked incredibly pleased with himself for getting the kiss, but quickly pointed down to the remaining gift on his lap. “Go on, one more thing.”

“Alright,” Lance put the camera down on the coffee table, and picked up the final gift. It was small and flat, about the size of his palm. Not having any guesses for what it was, he swiftly pulled back the paper.

Hidden beneath the white tissue paper, was a Christmas ornament. But, it was no ordinary Christmas ornament; it was one of the ones you could place a photo in. It was square, looking quite similar to a photo frame you would hang on the wall, and looked like it would perfectly fit a picture from a polaroid camera.

But the best part, was what the writing said at the bottom: “Our First Christmas”.

Lance’s eyes welled up at reading the message on the blank ornament. “Babe,” he whispered, finally tearing his eyes from the ornament up to meet Keith’s gaze.

Keith was giving him that soft fond smile that made Lance’s insides melt. He had _no_ right to look that cute. “Do you like it?” Keith had the audacity to ask.

“I fucking love it.” he whined, and shuffled forwards on the couch to climb into Keith’s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck. “How dare you be so cute and thoughtful, what the hell.”

Strong arms wrapped around his waist, caging him in. Keith’s nose pressed into the space between Lance’s neck and collarbone, a comforting gesture to the both of them. “I’m glad you like it,” Keith whispered, his lips brushing lightly against Lance’s skin. His lips trailed lightly over the skin there in a comforting gesture that Lance couldn’t help but melt into.

Lance sat there for a few long moments, letting Keith do what he wanted since it felt so good, before pushing back from him and plopping back onto his seat on the couch. “Alright,” he said, giving his eyes a final wipe and putting the ornament down beside his camera on the coffee table, “your turn.”

“It’s _my_ turn, is it?” Keith hummed, and reached behind him to pull his gift onto his lap. The box was approximately the same size as the one Lance just opened, but when Keith tried to give it a lighthearted shake, nothing moved around to give him an idea of what was inside. So, he tore into the wrapping quickly, and tossed it aside to look down at the fancy little Christmas box inside.

He broke the small pieces of tape holding the lid on, and pulled the lid back, gasping when he saw what was inside.

Laying in a bed of tissue paper, was a pair of knitted gloves and a big scrunchy beanie. They were black, but shimmered a light silver colour in the right light.

“Ta-da!” Lance exclaimed, and reached forwards to pull the gloves out of the box. “I made these for you!”

“You did?”

“Yeah!” Lance put one of the gloves on his own hand, showcasing the design. They were a little childish, only having one big pad for the four fingers, and then a thumb. There was a weird button on the back of the palm, simple and black, but Keith didn’t question it. And it’s reason became clear when Lance pulled the top of the glove back, revealing fingerless gloves underneath.

Keith gasped, and pulled Lance’s mittened hand up to his face. “You made me winter fingerless gloves?!” he gasped.

“I didn’t want to stray too far from your realm of normalcy.” Lance said with a slight smirk. “But, if your fingers get cold, you can pull the glove part back over. The button here is to hold it back if you want fingerless gloves again.”

“I love them.” Keith whispered with wide eyes, and stole the mitten off Lance’s hand to put it on his own, with its match. “Oh my god, I love these. I can’t believe you _made_ these for me!”

Lance pulled the beanie out from the box, and put it on top of Keith’s bedhead for him. He adjusted it a little, and pulled a few strands of Keith’s dark hair out to frame his face, cooing when he deemed it just right.

With a gasp, Lance launched sideways to grab his new camera. “Don’t. Move!” he instructed, and pulled the camera up to his face to line up a shot.

Keith’s cheeks flushed under the attention, but he didn’t move, just as Lance asked, barely even blinking when the flash went off.

As soon as the photo came out, Lance waved it around to get it to clear up to see the result. Keith took off his gloves, scooching closer to Lance’s side to peer over his shoulder.

Once the photo cleared up, Lance cooed. It came out _perfectly_. Keith’s cheeks were flushed, highlighted by crooked smile that showed off a few teeth, and the light coming in from the kitchen that streaked in through his hair on either side of his beanie gave the photo a look that Lance couldn’t ever hope to replicate again.

He would cherish this photo for the rest of his days.

Suddenly, the oven in the kitchen dinged, so Keith stood up to go take the cinnamon buns out of the oven. He dropped the mittens onto the couch as he walked away, but left the beanie on just to mess with Lance’s heart.

Lance hung back for a few seconds, taking a moment to look at all of the things Keith gave him for Christmas. Since their movie marathon last night, nothing had moved from when they opened stockings last night, so everything was right where they left it. All of Keith’s gifts to him were so heartfelt and well planned, each having their own little meaning, and Lance loved him for that. He couldn’t believe he was spending his very first Christmas with the amazing man.

At the thought of first Christmas, Lance’s gaze turned to the ornament he just received. He’d need a photo to fill it before hanging it up on the tree…

With a small smile, Lance stood up as quietly as he could from the couch with his new camera in hand, and tiptoed into the kitchen after Keith.

Keith was bent over in front of the oven, pulling out the tray of delicious smelling cinnamon buns. He closed the oven door and placed the hot tray down on top, before tossing the mitt off to the side and turning off the timer and oven both. “Lance, cinnamon buns are done!” He called out, not realizing that the boy in question was sneaking up behind him.

As soon as Lance was close enough, he pounced, looping an arm around Keith’s shoulders and throwing his arm with the camera out in front of them. “Smile!” Lance exclaimed, putting on his best smile.

He clicked the shutter button quickly, unsure what Keith’s expression was, but he didn’t really care.

Keith whirled around as Lance pulled the processing photo out of the bottom of the camera, looking between Lance’s face and the camera as if trying to figure out what just happened.

Lance gave no explanation, other than shaking the photo out harder, willing it to come to light.

As soon as it did, he couldn’t contain his wide smile even if he tried.

Somehow, even without a guide, the frame was almost perfectly centered on the both of them, Lance smiling his usual camera smile. But Keith? Keith looked a little shocked, but the start of a smile was turning his lips upwards, and he just looked so incredibly fond at that moment that Lance’s poor heart just couldn’t handle it.

“What’s this for?” Keith asked lightly.

Lance hummed, and leaned into Keith until he wrapped an arm around Lance’s shoulder. “Well, we have to have something to put in our first Christmas together. What’s better than this?”

“What, my ugly bed head and not smiling face, and you shirtless in the kitchen with me?”

“Yes.” Lance said simply.

Keith laughed lightly at Lance’s quick response, and shook his head lightly. “Alright, then.”

With a flourish, Lance spun around and rushed back into the living room, brandishing the new photo. He picked up the new ornament, and lined the photo up with the frame. He didn’t think he’d even have to cut it to make it fit. Keith was really thoughtful with his gifts, it seemed. With a smile, he slid the photo into place inside the ornament, and held it up to admire it.

Keith came up behind him, wrapping his arms around Lance’s waist and hooking his chin over his shoulder. “Hey, it turned out better than I thought it would.” he mused.

“Hey, anything with my face in it is beautiful.” Lance said jokingly.

Keith hummed, and pressed his lips to the side of Lance’s neck. “That’s true.”

Lance spluttered, and pulled out of Keith’s arms to pout at his boyfriend. “You weren’t supposed to agree with me.”

“What? It’s true!”

  
With a huff, Lance spun and marched over to the Christmas tree, to find a place to hang the new ornament. Unfortunately, Hunk was _really_ good at decorating, so there were no open spaces. But, to solve his problem, Lance pulled one of the ornaments he wasn’t fond of off of the tree and replaced it with the photo frame.

Lance stepped back with his hands on his hips and a triumphant smile. “There,” he declared, “The tree is perfect now.”

Keith stepped up beside him, and looped his arm through Lance’s before reaching for his hand, twining their fingers together. “It is a good looking tree.” he agreed softly.

“I can’t take any credit.” Lance said with a shrug. “Hunk did it.”

“Oh, I can tell. It’s not a mess of clashing decorations.” Keith said dryly.

Lance squawked at him indignantly, and lightly smacked Keith’s chest with his free hand. “Hey, I resent that.”

“I’m just teasing you,” Keith said with a slight smirk. He started backing away, using his hold on Lance’s hand to lead him back towards the kitchen. “You’re too easy to tease sometimes.”

Lance let himself be led, to wherever Keith wanted him to go. He knew he’d go anywhere Keith asked him to. “You’re so mean to me.”

With a roll of his eyes, Keith stopped in the kitchen doorway, pulling Lance under with him. “I guess I’ll just have to make it up to you.” Keith whispered with a sly smile, and leaned up on his toes so they were eye level.

Without even looking up, Lance knew why Keith pulled him here. He had a feeling he’d never be able to look at the doorway the same way ever again once Keith left today. “I guess you will.” Lance replied, before leaning in to wipe that smile off of Keith’s face.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so Lance's stance on Bailey's in coffee is my aunt's way. I swear she likes to get us all drunk before 9am Christmas morn. I don't let her touch my coffee anymore, because I'm only half fond of Bailey's, and I just drink it for the buzz. But when we start to run low, my aunt is the kind of woman to add more Bailey's, not anymore coffee, and I can't handle that.
> 
> And the gingerbread story? Is a true one. I mean, I'm an only child, but my dad and I would try to eat them as fast as they come out of the oven. My mum chased us around the house with her favourite wooden spoon when I was younger, but it was worth it. That year, she ended up having to make a brand new double batch because my dad and I ate too many of them. Whoops
> 
> As some of my friends know, I had **way** too much fun on Google looking at ugly Christmas sweaters. I think I spent like, an hour deciding which sweaters the boys should have, and it was the best hour of my life to date. I haven't laughed so hard that I cried in a long time.
> 
> The scotch mints? They're one of my favourite treats :3 And apparently, my great grandmother used to keep a bunch of them in a small crystal bowl that my mum now has, and every time she came in from having a smoke, to mask the scent on her breath she'd have one. I never met her, but it was a cute little thing I thought I'd add.
> 
> Homemade Christmas cards? Are my shit, honestly. Or anything hand-made. My mum was huge into scrapbooking when I was growing up, so it's common for me to get a handmade card for my birthday, Christmas, and big things like graduation or something. And since my niece and nephew have been able to write, they always write me a little something on a Christmas card :3 I have a bunch of cards out around my apartment, like above my bed, and they always make me smile. I can see Lance doing the same.
> 
> THE UNICORN MARSHMALLOW LUCKY CHARMS!!! Okay, so, earlier this year, my mum was in town visiting me and we stopped at Wal-Mart. On our way to the checkout, I stumbled across this massive unicorn head mask and immediately put it on, right? But my mum didn't notice right away, so I end up following her with this fuckin' unicorn head on for like, _a good portion_ of the store. People were staring, obviously, but when my mum turned around she immediately broke out laughing so hard she nearly fell over. So, now, I'm about 70% positive that at least half of my gifts are unicorn themed in honour of that. My mum bought me unicorn marshmallow Lucky Charms cereal the other day because of that.
> 
> But the reason the cereal box being used as a box is important is because my nephew had a similar experience for his birthday a few years ago. His nana had some, idk clothes or a toy or something wrapped in a Frosted Flakes box. As soon as he opened it he was kind of like "...breakfast?" and IMMEDIATELY went to put it in the cupboard before even looking at it, and it's a running gag in my family to this day.
> 
> If you want to come scream at me about this fic, or anything tbh, you can find me on [tumblr](http://winter-and-little-brunettes.tumblr.com/), [twitter](https://twitter.com/winternbrunett5), and [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/winterandlittlebrunettes/)!


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